Thursday, May 25, 2017

A to Z Blogging Challenge: D is for Diet (Start of No-Sugar Month)




JD picked up this book on a recent trip to The Works bookshop:


He read it and then passed it on to me to read. I was aware that sugar isn't good for our bodies but I wasn't aware of the extent of the damage sugar consumption can cause.

In the book the author Damon Gameau experiments with eating 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 60 days. Sugars added to supposed healthy foods like muesli bars, orange juice and cereal. He doesn't eat any junk food.

After 60 days he gained weight, a fatty liver and high cholesterol. It was an interesting experiment to read. He ate the same number of calories daily as his usual diet but because the calories came from carbohydrates/sugar he negatively affected his health.

JD and I make an effort to eat well. We usually make sure to eat our 5 a day including plenty of foods that are good for our bodies. But we do (me especially) eat treats fairly often. JD has a weakness for Doritoes and my nemesis is chocolate. I also work in a sweet factory which doesn't help with avoiding temptation.

People who devote their lives to eating clean, sugar-free, low-carb diets often extol the feeling of high energy, feeling good and having a completely changed outlook on food. We feel suspicious that isn't the case but also feel a bit optimistic that it could be true.

So just to check for ourselves in case it works, we're going to have a month of no-sugar. No foods with added sugar, no bread, no chocolate, no crisps. I'm still going to eat fruit but only the lower-sugar ones. We started on Monday 22nd May and so far so good. No energy boosts yet but also no terrible feelings of loss!

We'll be back in a month to share how it went. :)

Note: Neither of us are cutting out sugar in order to lose weight. The word diet in the title refers to us changing our diet to avoid sugar not to be on a diet.




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